The invention relates to an instant menu pack and to a method for producing and making ready for use such an instant menu pack.
In the case of instant menu packs of the aforementioned type the base part is conventionally made from deep-drawn aluminium foil, whilst the sealing foil can also be made from aluminium or also coated plastics material or the like. The heating of such instant menu packs where, after filling the instant menu in the base part and applying the sealing foil, deep freezing takes place and the instant menu pack is then stored at a maximum of xe2x88x9218xc2x0 C., generally takes place in a circulating air oven or the like and for after-cooking the instant menu which has only been pre-cooked prior to filling into the base part, a time of approximately 40 minutes is generally necessary.
The known instant menu pack has proved substantially satisfactory, but it is occasionally considered to be disadvantageous that in the case where certain components of the instant menu are e.g. liquid, on filling into the base part, which i.e. takes place in an order ensuring that during the subsequent consumption the last-filled upper layer is at the top and can firstly be consumed, the trickling of liquid components into the underlying layers, e.g. of sauces, can only be prevented in that the base part is subdivided into different compartments, so that then the user subsequently applies from a specific base part compartment the sauce or the like to the solid component and can consequently bring about pleasing consumption characteristics. The aforementioned problem e.g. more particularly arises with a spaghetti dish, which is to be covered with a tomato-based sauce and subsequently with a Parmesan cheese layer.
Quite apart from the fact that instant menu packs of the aforementioned type cannot be heated by microwave energy, because the aluminium foil lower part is not permeable to microwave energy, the aforementioned disadvantages can also not be avoided when the lower part is made from a microwave energy-permeable material, because even then prior to the deep-freezing process, there is a trickling of e.g. liquid sauce components into the underlying solid layers of the instant menu, said effect being further intensified on warming up by microwave energy. In addition, microwave heating of instant menus has generally hitherto suffered from the disadvantage that it is impossible to cross surface layers, so that it is very difficult to give pleasing consumption characteristics to pizzas or meat dishes in the case of microwave heating. (DE 91 05 684 U1 discloses an instant menu pack in which the layer order of the food prior to preparation or cooking is different from that in the ready-to-eat state, because after heating the, pack container provided with the deep-frozen food located therein in the delivery state, the layer-like constituents of the heated food are rearranged prior to consumption. No a reference is made to the problem of avoiding the trickling of liquid sauce components, etc. into the solid layers of an instant menu.
The problem of the invention is to improve the aforementioned instant menu pack in that on the one hand an undesired mixing of the individual components without subdividing the base part into different compartment is avoided and on the other the obtaining of corresponding consumption characteristics is ensured, even with microwave heating. The invention also provides a method for producing and making ready for use such an instant menu pack.
An aspect of the invention involves an instant menu pack having a substantially tray-like base part, an instant menu and a sealing foil. The instant menu has at least two components with a different consistency and is pre-cooked and deep-freezable. The substantially tray-like base part receives the instant menu and has a circumferential side wall that diverges outwards from a substantially flat bottom towards an upper edge thereof where it passes into an outwardly projecting, substantially flat, bottom-parallel, circumferential marginal flange. The base part is made from a material permeable to microwave energy and can absorb water at least in a surface layer facing the instant menu. The material has a thermal expansion coefficient in a temperature range between xe2x88x9220xc2x0 C. and room temperature that is lower than a thermal expansion coefficient of the instant menu. The components of the instant menu are filled into the base part in a layer arrangement perpendicular to the bottom in such a way that the individual layers have an order opposite to the intended order of the individual components on consumption. The sealing foil is sealed onto the marginal flange after filling the instant menu. The marginal flange has a flexible-deformable construction so that, following the removal of the sealing foil, it engages closely on a circumferential opposite face, which is substantially parallel to the marginal flange such as the rim of a plate. Between a level of the instant menu remote from the bottom and an inner surface of the sealing foil facing the bottom a functional space exists.
In preferred embodiments of the instant menu pack, the functional space has a height that corresponds to at least xc2xc, or approximately ⅓, of a height of the filled instant menu, and the base part may be substantially circular and made from a plastics material provided on an inside facing the instant menu with a water-absorbing coating. The base part may also be made from shaped cardboard or shaped carton of the instant menu pack according to claim 1 form the subject matter of subclaims 2 to 6.
Another aspect of the invention involves a method for producing and making ready for use an instant menu pack. Components of an instant menu are introduced into a base part at room temperature or a pre-cooking temperature, successively and in an order which is reverse to an order of consuming the instant menu. The instant menu is deep frozen and a sealing foil is sealed onto a marginal flange of the base part. At the end of a deep-freeze storage and prior to heating the instant menu for consumption the sealing foil is removed from the marginal flange. The base part with the instant menu located therein is inverted and placed onto a plate, wherein under an influence of gravity the instant menu detaches from a lower part of the base part that is supported as a cover on a rim of the plate, and wherein between the instant menu and an inner surface of the lower part a cooking area is formed that is bounded by a bottom of the lower part and part of a side wall of the base part. The instant menu is heated and, prior to consumption, the lower part is lifted off the plate so that the instant menu is exposed for consumption.
In one embodiment, the instant menu may be heated by microwave energy. Further, a plate used for inverting the base part with the instant menu located therein has an external diameter is at least slightly larger than an internal diameter of the marginal flange of the base part.
The invention is based on the surprising finding that it is possible to solve the above problem and eliminate the disadvantages of the hitherto known instant menu packs in that the individual components of the instant menu are filled into a lower part not subdivided into compartments in the form of vertically succeeding layers in an order ensuring that the layer at the top during subsequent consumption is introduced first and the bottom layer or component for subsequent consumption is introduced last. This e.g. makes it possible to fill a spaghetti dish with sauce layer and Parmesan layer without any undesirable mixing of the individual components.
In the lower part there remains an upper functional area, which together with the fact that the thermal expansion coefficient of the material from which the lower part is made is lower than that of the instant menu, ensures that on inverting the deep-frozen instant menu pack onto a plate or the like, the instant menu is detached from the lower part now serving as a cover and drops onto the plate and between the cover and the instant menu a cooking area is formed, which is relatively tightly sealed to the outside by the marginal flange of the lower part supported on the plate rim. If the instant menu is now rapidly heated by microwave energy, where in this case only about four minutes are needed for heating and after-cooking, compared with the roughly 40 minutes when heating up conventional instant menus of the aforementioned type in a circulating air oven or the like, the sauce which is at the top, i.e. in the presently described example above the spaghetti layer, only trickles into the latter to such an extent that pleasing consumption characteristics are acquired and e.g. a Parmesan layer located above the sauce layer in the consumption position is crossed.
The instant menu pack according to the invention is eminently suitable for the preparation of xe2x80x9cdifficultxe2x80x9d instant menus, in which particular importance is attached to the separation of the different components of the instant menu until immediately prior to consumption and in particular makes it possible as a result of the cover remaining on the plate or the like, to transport the finished menu following heating in a central kitchen, e.g. of a hospital or the like, in the covered state to the sick bed and only there remove the cover, so that not only is the instant menu protected against contamination, but also an undesirable cooling between heating and consumption is avoided.